Summertime 1962

William Kienbusch made "Summertime" with big brushes and a sunny palette. Look at how the painting is built with loose, gestural marks. You can almost feel the artist shifting and improvising, responding to the emerging image, making decisions in real time. Imagine him, brush in hand, maybe stepping back, squinting, then diving back in. I wonder what Kienbusch was thinking about. There’s something very satisfying about the way he balances color, letting a sort of blue float over the yellow ground. That swooping stroke of pale blue at the bottom left feels so free, like a quick breath. It reminds me of Joan Mitchell’s expansive brushwork, that sense of capturing a fleeting moment. Painters are always in conversation with each other, borrowing, reacting, and pushing the boundaries of what paint can do. Painting is embodied expression. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple readings, over fixed ideas.